The University of Wisconsin’s Athletic Board met on Friday afternoon and approved contract extensions for 6 of its intercollegiate head coaches, including head men’s and women’s swimming & diving coach Yuri Suguiyama. His contract was extended through June 14th, 2022: maintaining its original 3-year length.
Wisconsin uses a unique method of contract renewal for its head coaches. Each season, the athletics department makes a recommendation to the board on whether to renew a coach’s contract (which keeps it at the same length – in Suguiyama’s case 3 years) or to maintain it (without adding the extra year).
In Suguiyama’s first year in taking over the program from Whitney Hite, the Wisconsin men placed 36th at NCAAs with 7 points, while the women placed 16th with 100 points. For Wisconsin, that included an electric junior season from Beata Nelson, who won NCAA titles in the 200 IM (1:50.79), 100 back (49.18), and 200 back (1:47.21). The latter two of those results were the fastest times in history in those events.
At Big Tens, the Wisconsin men finished 6th, which matched their finish from last season (but was a spot lower than their 3-straight 5th-place finishes from 2015-2017). The women finished 5th, which also matched their finish from a year prior. They finished 3rd in 2017, which tied for their 3rd-best conference finish in school history.
According to a public salaries database for the University of Wisconsin, Suguiyama received $23,182 in base pay for the 2017-2018 academic year, which amounted to about 2 months of work after an official start date of April 24th (with the Wisconsin fiscal year running through June 30th). That figure doesn’t include bonuses or stipends; nor any money that might be paid for by the athletics booster club or directly from program sponsors. His predecessor Hite received regular pay of $143,172.46 for the 2017 year, which was actually a decrease from the year prior.
Also receiving contract extensions:
- Men’s basketball head coach Greg Gard’s five-year contract extended through May 31, 2024
- Women’s basketball head coach Jonathan Tsipis’s five-year contract extended through May 31, 2024
- Men’s hockey head coach Tony Granato’s five-year contract extended through June 30, 2024
- Women’s hockey head coach Mark Johnson’s five-year contract extended through June 30, 2024
- Wrestling head coach Chris Bono’s three-year contract extended through May 31, 2022
Needs to up the men’s program.
Hopefully that means he is staying. Fingers crossed 🤞
He deserves more than whatever they are paying!